Fingertip bandages



Nov. 4, 1969 w. P. HURNEY FINGERTIP BANDAGES Filed July 17, 1967 In van for CJz'Z/iam P Ha r12 eg 5y bis/Z ttor/zey mwww United States Patent O 6 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A prepackaged fingertip bandage which is mounted in inside-out condition in a package and is removably secured to the interior of the package by adhesive which, when the bandage is turned right-side-out by the insertion of a finger through the end of the package, holds the bandage on the finger, the tip-engaging portion of the bandage having a layer of gauze thereon. The package may be in the form of a substantially rigid tube or may be collapsed into a substantially fiat form.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Bandages of different sizes to be applied to various portions of the body are commonly sold in packages containing a number of fiat strip bandages, each comprising a backing of plastic or the like, having at its terminal portions, adhesive to secure the bandage to portions of the body adjacent the injured portion, and gauze or the like in its central portion to protect the injury, and a protective readily removable covering for the face of the bandage.

When the ti of a finger is injured, the end of the finger is enclosed by such a bandage only with difliculty, it frequently being necessary to use two or more such bandages to adequately protect the injury on the fingertip, and the result is usually a bulky covering, untidy in ap pearance.

Bandages in tubular form for fingertip protection have been made, but these are not generally individually packaged or sealed to keep them sterile, and are difficult to apply. Thus various types of devices have been proposed to facilitate application of the bandages to the finger. The inconvenience of having such a device always available is self-evident.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the invention to provide individually prepackaged fingertip bandages in which the package serves as the applicator to apply the bandage to the injured finger, the bandage being maintained in sterile condition in the package.

To this end, and in accordance with a feature of the invention, a tubular bandage having a closed cup-shaped end is enclosed inside-out condition in a package, the bandage comprising a plastic backing with gauze at the closed end for protection of the injury, the backing being removably secured to the interior of the package by adhesive, which, when the bandage is turned inside-out by insertion of a finger into the end of the package, strips from the package and adheres to the finger, so that the finger is enclosed by the bandage when withdrawn from the package.

The package may be in the form of a substantially rigid tube or a collapsed substantially flat enclosure, readily expansible to permit insertion of a finger.

The above and other features of the invention will now be described by reference to the drawings and pointed out in the claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a perspective view of one form of a packaged fingertip bandage embodying the invention;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of one form of bandage in inside-out condition, prior to assembly with a package;

FIGS. 3, 4, 5 and 6 are perspective views of modified forms of the bandage prior to application of the sterile gauze thereto;

FIGS. 7, 8, 9 and 10 are transverse sections through various forms of packages embodying the invention;

FIG. 11 is a perspective view of a packaged bandage having a size gauge thereon; and

FIGS. 12, 13 and 14 show successive stages in the application of the bandage to a finger.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFFERED EMBODIMENT In FIG. 1 there is illustrated a package in the form of a tube 10 of paper, plastic or any suitable material and of an internal diameter such as to accommodate a human finger to be inserted through an end thereof. Within the tube 10 is a bandage 12 in inside-out relation. The bandage is preferably of tubular form having a cup-shaped end portion adapted, when turned right-side-out, to enclose the tip of the finger. The end of the bandage has a sterile gauze pad 14 (FIG. 2) adhered to a tubular cover portion 16, said pad being arranged for engagement with the tip of the finger.

The cover 16 may be formed of a plastic material such as is frequently used in bandages for application to various portions of the body, and provided around its periphery at its open end with a pressure sensitive adhesive which serves, when in the package 10, to releasably hold it in the desired relation to the end of the package. The materials of the adhesive and the package are such that the bandage is readily removed from its adhesive engagement with the package when a finger is inserted therein as shown in FIGS. 1214, the bandage being turned right-side-out and the adhesively coated portion of the cover then engaging the finger to hold the bandage in place.

The package is suitably sealed at its ends so that the bandage remains sterile until used, the end through which the finger is to be inserted being readily removable as shown in FIG. 1. The cover portion of the bandage has perforations at its end to provide for breathing and the sides of the cover may have slit 18 to provide for eX- pansion to accommodate various size fingers, and for breathing.

The cover portion of the bandage may be formed in various ways as, for example, by vacuum forming, FIG. 3, or by cutting sections from a tube and sealing the ends as in FIGS. 4 and 5. These figures also show various forms of perforations in the sides of the cover to permit expansion, breathing, etc. In FIG. 6, the cover has its tubular portion crimped to allow for expansion.

The package may be sold in tubular form as in FIG. 1, or in generally-flat forms as in FIGS. 8-11, so that a greater number may be packaged in a given size box. The package may be formed in many ways, as for example, by providing a tube with diametrically opposed crease lines 20, FIG. 7, so that after a bandage is inserted therein, the package may be flattened to the form shown in FIG. 8, and the ends sealed in any suitable manner. When the bandage is to be used, pressure is applied to the portions 22, 24 to return the package to its cylindrical form, permitting the ready insertion of a finger after the end is removed.

FIG. 9' shows a package having parallel fiat sides with crease lines 26, 26 and readily expansible upon the application of pressure at 28, 30 into octagonal shape to permit the insertion of a finger. The package of FIG. 10 has crimped sides to permit whatever expansion is required for the insertion of a finger.

It may be desirable to package the bandages in various sizes in a box. To assist in a determination of the proper size of bandage to be used, the end to be torn is extended as shown at 32 in FIG. 11 and a gauge hole formed therein. The user selects a bandage having a hole in the end which will just fit over the injured finger, the size of the hole corresponding with the internal diameter of the bandage.

With the bandage of my invention, the adhesive which holds it in place does not contact the finger until the gauze pad is engaged with the fingertip. The gauze is retained in sterile condition until the bandage is used, and the fingertip is completely enclosed in a very fast and simple manner.

While I have illustrated some preferred embodiments of the invention, it will be understood that it may take various other forms, without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

Having thus described by invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. A packaged fingertip bandage comprising an enclosure, a cup-shaped fingertip bandage in said enclosure comprising a gauze pad for engagement with the tip of a finger, a plastic cover to which the gauze pad is secured, said bandage being mounted in said package in inside-out relation, said cover at the end remote from the pad having an adhesive exterior surface removably securing it to the interior of the enclosure and arranged to hold the bandage on the finger when turned right-side-out upon insertion of a finger through the end of the package, and means sealing the ends of the package to maintain the bandage sterile.

2. A packaged fingertip bandage as defined in claim 1,

in which the enclosure is normally substantially fiat but is expansible to permit insertion of a finger through an end thereof.

3. A packaged fingertip bandage as defined by claim 2, in which the plastic cover has lengthwise slits to permit expansion as required by the size of the finger to be bandaged.

4. A packaged fingertip bandage as defined by claim 1 in which the enclosure is in the form of a tube of a size to permit the insertion of a finger.

5. A packaged fingertip bandage as defined by claim 1, having means to enable the user to select a bandage to fit the injured finger before breaking the hermetic seal.

6. A packaged fingertip bandage as defined by claim 1, in which both the enclosure and the bandage are expansible to fit fingers of different sizes.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,824,559 2/1958 Sullivan 128-157 3,132,648 5/1964 Scholl l28153 3,348,541 10/1967 Loebeck 128157 FOREIGN PATENTS 837,370 6/1960 Great Britain.

ADELE M. EAGER, Primary Examiner US. Cl. X.R. 

